Monday, June 9, 2008

21: Bringing Down the House


This was the true-life account of some M.I.T. students who were able to figure out a way to beat Blackjack mathematically. In the 90's, some students began playing together, and developed a system, with the help of a professor (who had developed the system in the 70's). They would go to casinos all over the place; Vegas, Atlantic City, Shreveport, and riverboats. Over the course of a few years they were able to win a millions of dollars.

I liked the book a lot. It had a lot of moments that you weren't quite sure what was going to happen, and you had some moments that were anxious about what was going to happen. They make it sound easy to beat the game of Blackjack. In the book, they even tell you how they did it. Of course, these guys were mathematical geniuses. I tried it by myself, and it didn't work that well.

They made a movie about it, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm glad I read the book first. I'll probably wait for the movie to come out on dvd. I started reading it on Thursday while I was waiting to get on a plane for North Carolina, and by the time I arrived, I had finished the book. It's a real easy read, and if you like stories, this is a great one. Go check it out.

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